Christmas is my favorite time of the year. It’s all about celebrating family, friends, faith, and delicious food. For my family, Christmas morning starts with opening presents followed by gathering around the table for a festive, merry breakfast or brunch. Over the years, I’ve created and collected various recipes that are perfect for a Christmas day brunch – which I’m sharing with you here. I’m also sharing 2 favorite Christmas Brunch Menus, one served buffet style and one served plated. Savory or sweet, make ahead or quick and easy, you’re sure to find the dishes that will make your family feel special on this important day.
15 Brunch Ideas for Christmas
Here are my favorite Christmas brunch recipes, divided into three sections – Savory Main dishes, Sweet Main Dishes, and Sides.
Christmas Brunch Recipe Ideas – Savory Main Dishes
Christmas Morning Baked Eggs in Ramekins
Christmas Morning Eggs are quick and easy to prepare – and oh, so scrumptious! I can’t recall a childhood Christmas morning without them. Eggs are baked in a nest of Cheddar cheese, along with green chiles and sour cream. Can be prepared ahead of time, and also baked in one large dish.
Eggs Benedict: Complete How-to Guide + Variations
To me, there’s nothing more rustically elegant – or delicious – for breakfast than Eggs Benedict. Toasted English muffins topped with slices of sweet Canadian bacon and delicate poached eggs, then slathered with buttery, lemony Hollandaise sauce. Poaching the eggs ahead of time and making the hollandaise sauce in a blender (then reheating shortly before serving) simplify the prep work significantly on these impressive eggs.
Smoked Salmon Eggs Benedict with Mustard-Dill Sauce
Smoked Salmon Eggs Benedict with Mustard-Dill Sauce is a scrumptious, lighter version of traditional Eggs Benedict. Plus, the sauce is easier to prepare than Hollandaise!
Green Chile Southwest Breakfast Casserole
Light and airy like a soufflé, Green Chile Breakfast Casserole is moist and cheesy, with just the right amount of spice. The absence of any bread helps to keep it light, and instead of separating eggs and whipping the whites, baking powder is added to help it rise. Can be made earlier in the day, up to overnight and then baked shortly before serving.
Hash Brown Sausage Casserole
Easy enough for a casual weekend breakfast and elegant enough for an Easter brunch, this Sausage, Cheese and Hash Brown Strata will be your new go-to dish – and it’s gluten free!
Eggs in Purgatory Recipe (Eggs Poached in Tomato Sauce)
Poached Eggs in Italian Tomato Sauce is a quick and easy breakfast recipe created by my mom years ago. Eggs are poached in a quick sauce of diced tomatoes, garlic and herbs, then topped with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.
Christmas Brunch Recipe Ideas – Sweet Main Dishes
Baked Cinnamon French Toast
Baked Cinnamon French Toast is full of divine flavors, varying textures and bright colors – and is super easy to prepare ahead of time. Purchased cinnamon raisin bread slices are steeped in a sweet-creamy mixture of egg, sugar, milk, cream and vanilla, then baked in a water bath. Easy, luscious, elegant and impressive!
Cinnamon Apple Waffles
What two flavors taste like fall more than cinnamon and apples? These Cinnamon Apple Waffles are full of sweet, spiced, well-balanced flavors. Grated fresh apples are mixed into a batter punctuated by cinnamon and brown sugar, with tangy yogurt keeping the sweetness in check. They’re crispy on the outside, light and fluffy on the inside – and I share my secrets on how to make them that way!
Cheese Blintz Soufflés with Blueberry Balsamic Sauce
Cheese Blintz Soufflés with Blueberry Balsamic Sauce are a quick and easy variation on traditional cheese blintzes. Egg batter is layered with a cream cheese-cottage cheese filling in individual souffle dishes or ramekins, baked, then topped with an intensely flavored Blueberry Balsamic Sauce. The result is a delicious and impressive breakfast, brunch or lunch dish!
Christmas Brunch Recipe Ideas – Sides (Sweet and Savory)
Sweet and Spicy Bacon Twists
These addictively delicious Spiced Bacon Twists are chewy, crunchy and both sweet and savory. Salty, smoky bacon is dredged in a sweet and spicy brown sugar mixture and then baked until crispy. The resulting bacon has the most wonderful caramel taste, with a bit of zing.
Overnight Caramel Rolls with Frozen Bread Dough (AKA Monkey Bread)
Overnight Bundt Caramel Rolls are easy to prepare, oo-ey, goo-ey, cinnamon-y bites of moist deliciousness! Not only do they take only about 5 minutes to prepare, you make them the night before, and pop them in the oven the next morning around 35-45 minutes before serving. Easy enough for everyday, elegant enough for special occasions and entertaining!
Cranberry Nut Bread
Chock-a-block full of fresh cranberries and walnuts, this scrumptious and colorful Cranberry Nut Bread is the perfect companion to a cup of coffee or tea.
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins
These seasonally inspired Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins are the perfect morning treat to celebrate fall!
Blueberry Lemon Muffins
Super moist Lemon Blueberry Muffins are are easy to prepare, and are a great accompaniment to most brunch dishes and many main dish salads as well. Plus, they can be made ahead and frozen, making them a perfect addition to an entertaining menu!
Banana Mango Smoothie
Banana Mango Smoothies taste just like a fresh summer day! Tangy, fresh, fruity and delicious. Fresh mint and key lime juice are the secrets to its fresh and bright taste. Easy to prepare, and healthy, too!
Christmas Brunch Menu Ideas
Here are two menus that are perfect for Christmas brunch – one served buffet stye, the other plated and served at the table. The second menu (as you can tell by its name) is based on my family’s Christmas morning meal during my childhood. I’ve switched out the country ham for Spicy Bacon Twists, since country ham isn’t widely available.
Note: you can always add cookies and for a light dessert to either of these menus.
Christmas Brunch Menu (Buffet)
Green Chile Southwest Breakfast Casserole
Light and airy like a soufflé, Green Chile Breakfast Casserole is moist and cheesy, with just the right amount of spice. The absence of any bread helps to keep it light, and instead of separating eggs and whipping the whites, baking powder is added to help it rise. Can be made earlier in the day, up to overnight and then baked shortly before serving.
Sweet and Spicy Bacon Twists
These addictively delicious Spiced Bacon Twists are chewy, crunchy and both sweet and savory. Salty, smoky bacon is dredged in a sweet and spicy brown sugar mixture and then baked until crispy. The resulting bacon has the most wonderful caramel taste, with a bit of zing.
No Yeast Cinnamon Rolls with Peach Filling
These No Yeast Cinnamon Rolls with Peach Filling are amazingly easy to prepare, and I help you make them right the first time by providing detailed step-by-step instructions with photos. Sweet fresh peaches, spicy cinnamon and warm brown sugar all coordinate together perfectly inside these soft rolls and result in a luxurious, comforting, feel-good way to start your day!
Cranberry Nut Bread
Chock-a-block full of fresh cranberries and walnuts, this scrumptious and colorful Cranberry Nut Bread is the perfect companion to a cup of coffee or tea.
Caribbean Fruit Salad in a Citrus-Ginger Sauce
A refreshing, delicious salad for a brunch, this dish is best made when mango, papaya and peaches are in season.
Clayton Family Christmas Brunch Menu (Plated and Served)
Christmas Morning Baked Eggs in Ramekins
Christmas Morning Eggs are quick and easy to prepare – and oh, so scrumptious! I can’t recall a Christmas morning without them. Eggs are baked in a nest of Cheddar cheese, along with green chiles and sour cream. Can be prepared ahead of time, and also baked in one large dish!
Overnight Caramel Rolls with Frozen Bread Dough (AKA Monkey Bread)
Overnight Bundt Caramel Rolls are easy to prepare, oo-ey, goo-ey, cinnamon-y bites of moist deliciousness! Not only do they take only about 5 minutes to prepare, you make them the night before, and pop them in the oven the next morning around 35-45 minutes before serving. Easy enough for everyday, elegant enough for special occasions and entertaining!
Sweet and Spicy Bacon Twists
These addictively delicious Spiced Bacon Twists are chewy, crunchy and both sweet and savory. Salty, smoky bacon is dredged in a sweet and spicy brown sugar mixture and then baked until crispy. The resulting bacon has the most wonderful caramel taste, with a bit of zing.
Fresh Grapefruit
Round out the meal with fresh grapefruit. Cut in half and place in small (cereal size) bowls with grapefruit spoons. If you don’t have the spoons, then cut around the sections prior to serving.
Christmas Day Brunch FAQs
The time of day the meal is served defines it. The word brunch is a combo of breakfast and lunch, hence it’s served after one and before the other – usually starting around 10am or 11am.
Traditionally, brunch is served around 10am or 11am.
Usually at least 3 – one main dish, two sides (one sweet, one savory, or two sweets if your main dish is savory). If you have a larger group (10 or more) I recommend adding a second main dish – and offer one sweet and one savory.
I find it’s easiest to serve brunch for a larger group (10+) as a buffet. For less than 10 people, you can either serve buffet, family style or plated.
That’s entirely up to you and your family! If inviting guests to your home for Christmas brunch, I would invite them for 11am (allow time for present opening, church, etc.), serve by 11:30am and expect them to be leaving by around 1:30pm.
